


The easy topic

by loosingletters



Series: Lost Tales of Gotham [6]
Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, Green Lantern (Comics), Green Lantern - All Media Types
Genre: Bruce Wayne is a Good Parent, Dick Grayson is Robin, Long-Distance Relationship, M/M, Miscommunication, POV Hal Jordan
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-11
Updated: 2019-08-11
Packaged: 2020-08-19 11:03:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 656
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20208703
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/loosingletters/pseuds/loosingletters
Summary: Yeah, they definitely should talk about it. And about the expensive gifts, and Bruce hoarding Hal’s alien artifacts, and Hal being too late to everything because he’s missing time, and the fact that they avoid talking about their relationship.And the kid.





	The easy topic

Long-distance relationships sucked for a variety of reasons, one of them being that it didn’t leave much space for actually discussing the relationship.

Barry said that relationships of that kind could work perfectly well if you weren’t socially incapable.

But Hal had shortcomings. Multiple in fact. He hadn’t done  _ relationships _ once he finished high school because they were trouble and demanded vulnerability in a way he wasn’t comfortable to give.

Ironically, that was why it was easy to date Bruce. Or go out for dinner, make-out somewhere and talk about old black and white movies, because of course it was a dumb niche interest they had to share.

They didn’t date other people, not that either had the time with their hero activities, and when Alfred - Bruce’s butler dad - had called their arrangement dating, neither had refused.

So here they were.

Dating.

Sort of.

Yeah, they definitely should talk about it. And about the expensive gifts, and Bruce hoarding Hal’s alien artifacts, and Hal being too late to everything because he’s missing time, and the fact that they avoid talking about their relationship.

And the kid.

They definitely needed to talk about the kid and somehow that seemed to be the most accessible topic.

“Explain it to me again,” Hal said. “You saw the kid’s parents die and since nobody was there to take him in, you adopted him? And he really wants to be called Dick?”

“I didn’t adopt Dick. I’m merely his legal guardian now.”

Legal guardian. That said a lot about the kind of person Bruce would try to be for Dick and definitely shouldn’t be.

A nine-year-old didn’t need a legal guardian. He needed a parent.

“And being his ‘legal guardian’ means completely renovating a room, setting aside a trust fund and investing his parents’ to make sure that money doesn’t waste away and reading a dozen parenting books,” Hal began to list.

“I only read seven books and two magazines,” Bruce replied, trying to be as accurate and precise as always. His arms were crossed and he glanced at Hal only long enough to ensure that Hal wasn’t angry about his remark.

It used to piss Hal off that Bruce was always correcting him. It took a while, it took  _ Alfred _ , to learn that this was simply one of Bruce’s traits and that he didn’t mean any insult by it.

They should talk about stuff like that as well. Probably not in the Batcave - it used to be only The Cave, but then the kid had been introduced to this life and Hal has been gone too long again - but somewhere upstairs. In the living room? But that was a family space. The study would imply that their relationship was a business arrangement and the bedroom existed for a different kind of talk.

“I’m sorry I didn’t talk with you about Dick beforehand.”

Bruce didn’t move an inch from his spot in front of the computer. He wasn’t ignoring Hal or trivializing anything, he was simply incapable of opening when he thought he couldn’t handle the backlash.

Hal usually joked when he felt that way.

“It’s alright,” Hal replied and finally dropped out of his Green Lantern uniform. He had put on a hoodie and sweatpants before flying over to the manor but he hadn’t switched back again.

It was so much easier to be a hero than a person.

“I’m sorry too.”

Bruce finally turned to him, half in his suit still.

“Are you staying for breakfast?”

Hal breathed in. He hadn’t thought about it. His own apartment was dirty and he didn’t have anything fresh there and would need to go shopping. The manor had an excellent kitchen and his boyfriend’s ward. He should try to befriend little Dick Grayson, right?

What a fun little family they were. Incapable of communication and all of them had seen at least one parent die.

“Yeah, I’m staying.”

Back to square one.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading, I'd love to hear what you think!


End file.
